He emigrated from the United States to Canada in 1958, settling first in Vancouver, British Columbia and then in Montreal, Quebec where he became an insurance company executive.
When the Liberals formed government in 1985, Lincoln was appointed Minister of the Environment by Premier Robert Bourassa.
Lincoln and two other anglophone ministers resigned from cabinet in 1989, to protest the Bourassa government's language policy and its adoption of Bill 178,[1] which invoked the notwithstanding clause of the Canadian Constitution to require French to be the dominant language on commercial signs.
He lost the by-election to Phil Edmonston of the New Democratic Party and then withdrew from the Liberal leadership contest.
As of 2007, Lincoln is President of the Board of Directors of the English Speaking Catholic Council of Quebec.